The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is one of the most longstanding and respected non-profit organizations that advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. In 2003, the AAUW Long Beach branch organized the STEM Career Conference for 7th and 8th-grade girls and has hosted the event every year since then.
The purpose of this conference is to expose under-served Long Beach Unified School District girls to STEM careers and to bring passion to them about taking math and science courses in pursuit of STEM careers. 
Technology Management Concepts had the honor of sponsoring the conference in the past years and providing coding program demonstrations and speaking in a panel discussion about STEM careers and challenges for young women of diverse backgrounds.
The conference received responses about how highly effective it is in inspiring young girls to further their education in STEM, of which TMC has been a part. This year’s conference is extra special to us because our developer, Leslie Gonzales, was chosen to be the keynote speaker in front of 250 young girls. Her keynote was about overcoming the struggles of being a woman of color in a male-dominant field. Leslie’s journey to achieving her dream of becoming a software developer was a challenging process. However, her perseverance and courage led her to success. Her story encourages girls to never give up – even in the face of challenges and to have a support system.
“I want young girls going into STEM to understand that there are struggles in this field. But there are ways to help you go through the challenges, such as having mentors. You can seek mentors through extracurricular activities. I encourage them to allow themselves to explore, learn, and keep fighting for what they want.”
– Leslie Gonzalez | Developer at TMC
A 2020 study by Girls Who Code revealed that while the number of women majoring in computer science has increased, only 24% of computing jobs in the US were held by women, marking a decrease from 37% in 1984.
“We need to redefine what a scientist looks like in our society by creating role models of women in science and technology leadership roles. STEM is the fastest growing area for job growth in worldwide so it benefits women to be part of this. It benefits society to have a people of diverse backgrounds involved in building solutions as it is necessary to have different and fresh perspectives.”
– Jennifer Harris | CEO & Founder of TMC
